Button feeding machine

ABSTRACT

A button-feeding machine for sequentially feeding buttons located in a hopper through a chute to a holder in which the buttons are held in proper position for attachment to a cloth article by a sewing needle. The buttons are supplied in bulk to a hopper where they are oriented and aligned in a chute and then positively fed from the chute to the holder, one at a time by a ram arm whose actuation is controlled by a machine operator. A shoe is provided at the outlet of the chute to hold the ejected button in the proper orientation for sewing.

United States Patent [191 Asnes Jan. 23, 1973 BUTTON FEEDING MACHINEFloyd Asnes, 41-65 Westmoreland Street, Little Neck, N.Y. 11363 [76]Inventor:

Related-US. Application Data [62] Division of Ser. No. 692,909, Dec. 22,1967, Pat. No.

[52] U.S.Cl ..112/113, 112/114 [51] Int. Cl. ..D05b 3/22 [58] Field ofSearch ..221/224, 267; 112/108-115 [56] References Cited UNITED STATESPATENTS 3,089,443 5/1963 Asnes ..22l/267 X 3,151,586 10/1964 Medoffeta1. ..1l2/113 Primary Examiner-Samuel F. Coleman Attorney-Darby & Darby[57] ABSTRACT A button-feeding machine for sequentially feeding buttonslocated in a hopper through a chute to a holder in which the buttons areheld in proper position for attachment to a cloth article by a sewingneedle. The buttons are supplied in bulk to a hopper where they areoriented and aligned in a chute and then positively fed from the chuteto the holder, one at a time by a ram arm whose actuation is controlledby a machine operator. A shoe is provided at the outlet of the chute tohold the ejected button in the proper orientation for sewing.

4 Claims, 13 Drawing Figures PAIENTEDJAN23 I973 3.712.253

SHEET 1 [1F 5 l L g INVENTOR FLOYD ASNES BY fbML-a/ ATTORNEYSPAIENTEDJMZB 197s 3,712,253

SHEET 2 OF 5 H HHIHIMWI INVENTOR FLOYD ASN ES AT TORN EYS I BUTTONFEEDING MACHINE This application is a division of my copendingapplication Ser. No. 692,909, filed Dec. 22, 1967 now U.S. Pat. No.3,565,285.

The present invention relates to apparatus for feeding buttonssequentially from a hopper into a holder where they are held so thatthey can be sewn onto a piece of cloth by a sewing machine. Apparatus ofthis type known previously in the art have several disadvantages. Firstof all, the sequential feeding of the buttons from the chute to theholder is not done in any positive manner but, instead, relies on theforce of gravity. When using only the gravity force, the location of thebutton in the holder is often improper and thus makes the sewing of thebutton onto the cloth considerably more difficult and, in some cases,impossible. In addition, with many of the prior art machines, the buttonholder position must be adjusted for each change in size of the buttonsbeing fed. Further, in prior art machines, the various parts of thebutton holder have been subject to bending and breakage.

The present invention relates to an improved buttonfeeding machine inwhich the foregoing problems, as well as other problems, are eliminated.In accordance with the present invention, an improved button-feedingmachine is provided in which buttons are placed in bulk into a hopper.The hopper is of a simplified and novel construction which aligns thebutton for feeding one by one into a chute. The chute is a two-piecemember which has a curved upper portion and a flat lower portion. Thespacing and alignment between the two chute members in the lower portionof the chute is adjusted by a novel gear operated, threaded pinarrangement. The spacing of the curved upper portion of the chute isaccomplished by a novel yoke and bracket arrangement.

The buttons aligned in the chute are fed one at a time under the controlof the machine operator by a novel ram arm mechanism which engages abutton and moves it in a controlled manner from the chute apredetermined distance into the button holder. In addition, the buttonholder is also of a novel and simplified construction and includes arigid front clamp member which operates in conjunction with a leafspring type. back member. The leaf spring is located at an angle withrespect to the chute exit so that clamping action of the button in theholder is provided for a number of different sizes of buttons withoutmoving the holder.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a novelbutton-feeding machine in which the buttons are fed from a chute memberby the positive actuation ofa ram arm.

A further object is to provide a button-feeding machine in which buttonsare aligned in a chute in a novel manner.

An additional object is to provide a button-feeding machine having a twosection chute formed by complementary front and rear pieces, thedistance between the chute pieces of the first and second sections beingadjustable separately.

Another object is to provide a button-feeding machine having a novelbutton-holding member formed with a leaf spring.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become moreapparent upon reference to the following specification and annexeddrawings, in which,

FIG. 1 is an elevational view showing the general assembly of themachine;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the assembled machine;

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view taken in cross-section along the lines3-3 of FIG. 1 showing a portion of the machine;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a portion of the front of the machinelooking into the front of the machine along lines 44 of FIG. 3 showingthe arrangement for aligning the buttons;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a portion of the chute looking downalong lines 5-5 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a side elevational view of the clutch and drive mechanism;

FIGS. 7a, 7b and 7c are views, shown partially broken away, showing theoperation of the ram finger and the details of the button holder;

FIGS. and 8b are top views, taken partially in section, showing thebutton holder and the ram finger;

FIG. 9 is a top view of the button holder; and

FIG. 10 is a front view of the button holder taken in section alonglines 10-10 of FIG. 9.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE MACHINE ORGANIZATION Referring to FIGS. 1 and2, the button feeding machine of the present invention is designed toaccept a number of headed buttons 10 having shanks ll thereon in ahopper 20. The buttons 10, placed with any orientation in the hopper 20are aligned therein and progressed down a two-piece chute 40 formed byrear and front members 44 and 45, the latter of which has a track 42therein to accept the shanks. The distance between the two chute members44 and 45 is adjustable to accommodate buttons whose heads are ofdifferent thicknesses.

The aligned buttons 10 are gravity fed down the chute 40 to its exit end41. From here they are positively fed one at a time by the action of apower driven ram arm into a button holder 150 which holds the fed buttonwith its shank in position for sewing therethrough aligned beneath theneedle 302 of a sewing machine 300. The positive one at a time feed ofthe buttons into holder is operator controlled to place the button inholder 140 above an operator controlled, vertically movable, shoe platemember 240 on which a garment or piece of cloth is held. The operatorcompletes a sewing operation by sewing the held button onto the garment,removing the button from holder 1'40 and then initiating another cycleto feed another button into the holder 140.

The various components of the machine are described in detail below.

FEED HOPPER Referring to FIGS. l4, the feed hopper 20 comprises acylindrical bowl 22 having a bottom wall 24. The bottom wall 24- ismounted on the upper, curved end of the rear chute member 44 so that itis slightly tilted with its exit aperture 23 adjacent the upper endofthe chute 40, which in turn is connected to the main base support 46.The adjustable mounting of the rear chute member to base 46 is describedin detail below. The base member 46 has a flanged bottom piece forsecurely mounting the base to any support, such as a table. A pluralityof screw-mounted clips 25 are provided around the upper lip of the bowl22 to accept and hold a complete or partial cover or screen (not shown)if such is used to prevent the buttons from spilling out of the open topof the bowl.

A circular hub 26 is located in the bottom of the bowl and is mounted ona rotatable shaft 28 which is the output shaft of a motor 30 mounted onan extension plate 31 of the rear chute member 44. The motor 30 is ofthe continuously operating type and has a power cord 30a connectedthereto for connection to a suitable source of voltage, eitheralternating or direct current depending upon the motor selection. Theswitch for turning motor 30 on and off is not shown. The output shaft ofmotor 30 can also be geared to drive the hub 24 in any conventionalmanner.

A number of elongated fingers 32, illustratively shown as being three,are mounted to the hub 26 for rotation therewith. The fingers 32 aremade of a resilient material, such as spring steel, and they extendsubstantially completely out to the bowl side wall so that no buttonscan be trapped between the ends of the fingers and the side wall.

An adjustable curtain 23a is mounted on the inside of the bowl 22above-the exit aperture 23. The vertical position of curtain 23a isadjustable by a nut and bolt 23b which rides in a slot (not shown) inthe curtain. The provision of the curtain is helpful in clearing anyjams which might occur in the chute as the buttons are fed from thehopper into the chute. Also, the curtain 23a is needed to cover theunused portion of the exit aperture 23 as the thickness of the chute 40is changed.

BUTTON ALlGNlNG As the spring fingers 32 are rotated in the hopper bythe motor 30, they engage the buttons therein and move them around. Asshown, the hopper is into the bowl exit aperture. As seen in FlG. 4, theleft continuously rotated inthehopper by the fingers 32. If

they are aligned. with their shanks facing the hopper arrow. The buttonis spun so that the long dimension of the shank can fall into the trackand proceed downward by gravity feed. In this manner, ,the chute 'iscontinually kept loaded with buttons, as long as there is a supply inthe hopper.

CHUTE As described previously, the chute 40 comprises a rear and frontchute members 44 and 45, the latter being formed by two spaced,elongated pieces to define the track 42. Both the chute members 44 and45 have I complementary curved upper ends and, as also describedpreviously, the hopper 20 is mounted at the rangement. As shown in FIGS.2, 3 and 5, the top of the main base support 46 terminates in atwo-legged yoke with legs 46a. The middle portion of the front chutemember 45 is fastened by screws 47 (FIG. 1) to the front faces of theyoke legs. The rear chute member 44 is mounted between the legs 46a ofthe yoke (see FIG. 5) by two screw threaded pins 50, there being one ofsuch pins located near the top of the yoke and one near the bottom. I

The rear chute member 44 is partially drilled with two threaded holes 51to accommodate the threaded pins whose left ends extend through and arerotatable in holes 52 formed in the center wall of the yoke of base 46.Each threaded pin 50 has fixed shoulders 53 and54 formed thereon on eachside of the yoke wall to hold the pins from moving with respect to theyoke.

The top threadedpin 50 has a drive gear 56 mounted thereon at the rearof the yoke wall which engages an idler gear 57 rotatably mounted on ashaft 58 which is held in a bearing 59 in the yoke wall. A. drive piniongear 60 is in turn fixed tothe leftend of the bottom threaded pin 50 inmeshing engagementwith the pinion gear 57. A control knob 62is'connected totheleft end I I The two pieces of the front chute member45, which form the track 42, extend upwardly for a short distance ofthe, upper drive pin *50 s o thatv as the knob 62 is rotated, the gear56 is turned. This in "turn rotates the pinion gear 57 and the gear 60which is connected to "piece 45has a sloping shoulder 48 and a verticalnotched cutout 49'at its inner edge. The. buttons are bottom wall 24they cannot enter the track'42 formed I by. the front chute memberpieces 45. However, if they are aligned with their heads on the bottomwall, then the shanks will fall into the track entrance defined by f'the sloping shoulder 48 and the notch 49. If in turn the shanklll ofthe button in the top of the chute entrance is aligned so that itslarger dimension is vertical, the shank fits into the track 42 and thebutton falls by gravity down the chute 40 with its shank aligned in thethe lower threaded pin 50. Thus, as should be apparent, rotation of thecontrol knob 62 moves the two threaded pins 50 at the same time, in thesame directioneither into orout of the threaded holes 51 in the rearchute member 44. Thus, the chute member is rigidly held by the twothreaded pins 50 and its distance'to the rear surface of the front chutemember'45 is adjusted by I turning the knob 62 in one direction or theother. This moves all components, such as the-hopper 20,'and its exitaperture23, with respect to the front chute member 45.

track 42. If the button in the chute entrance is aligned so that thelong dimension of its shank cannot enter the track 42,'as shown for thetop button in FIG. 4, then the shank is caught in the notch 49. As thespring fingers 32 rotate they engage the head of the button in theentrance way and rotate it in the direction shown by the ,As' should beapparent, due to thefact thatthe hopper 29 is fixed to the upper end ofthe rear chute member 44 andthis upperend is curved, an arrangementmustbe provided for maintaining some degree of parallelism between the,front face ,of the rear chute member 44 and the inner surface of thefront chute member 45 at the curved upper end. This parallelism isnecessary since the distance between thefrontand rear chute members mustbe maintained substantially uniform throughout the entire chute lengthfor the buttons to feed properly. The problem becomes particularly acutewhen the chute space is widened by turning control knob 62, whicheffectively reduces the space at the top of the chute.

To provide the needed parallelism both elongated pieces forming thefront cover member 45 are split into a substantially flat lower sectionand a curved upper section complementary to the curved rear chute memberat point 45a. The two sections are held together by a hinge 45b ofspring material which is welded or held by some other suitable fasteningmeans onto the two sections.

The upper, curved, section of the front cover plate 45 above the split45a is made adjustable toward or away from the rear chute member 44 by asaddle 64 which is fastened to the top of chute member 45. As shown inFIG. 1, the saddle 64 has a slot cut therein to permit the passage ofthe shank of the button.

A bracket 66 is connected to each end of the saddle 64, these endsextending slightly beyond the edges of the front cover member 45 (FIG. 1A screw 68 passes through the rear of the bracket 66 and is threadedinto a hole 69 in the rear chute member 44. A retaining washer 67 isprovided on the inner face of the bracket 66. As the screw 68 isrotated, it moves into or out of the hole 69 with the upper ends of thebracket connected to the saddle '64 moving the connected front covermember 45 about the hinge piece 45b toward or away from the rear chutemember 44. Thus the correct spacing between chute members at the curvedupper portion of the chute is achieved by moving the front chute member45 with respect to the rear chute member through screw 68. The spacingat the bottom end of the chute is obtained by turning control knob 62 tomove the rear chute member with respect to the stationary front member.

To reduce any play between the rear chute member 44 in the front chutecover 45, a pair of rollers 76 (FIG.

3) are provided, one above the upper pin 50 and the other below thelower pins 50 of the chute-adjusting mechanism. As seen best in FIG. 5,which shows the details of one roller the other being the same, theroller 76 is rotatably mounted in a bracket 77 which is connected to athreaded screw 78, screwed into a hole 79 in the side of the rear chutemember 44. The inner face of one of the legs 46a of the base yoke 46 ismilled out with a slot 80 therein'to accommodate the roller 76. Thus, asthe control knob 62 is turned to move the rear chute member 44 relativeto the base member 46, the rollers 76 ride in the tracks 80. As shouldbe apparent, the rollers prevent any play between the base member 46 andthe rear chute member 44 and thereby between the front and rear chutemembers. As many of these rollers may be provided as needed.

RAM ARM AND DRIVE As shown in FIG. I, the buttons fall by gravity downthe track 42 of the chute. The buttons are aligned in the chute so thatthey are all oriented in the upper part of the chute with their shankssubstantially vertical. The alignment of the buttons in this manner aswell as the adjustment of the chute spacing has been describedpreviously.

The bottom portion of the chute 40 curves to a substantially horizontaloutput end 41 so that at this output end the button shanks 11 assume asubstantially horizontal position. From the chute output they are to bepositively fed by the ram actuating arm 90 one at a time into the buttonholder 140.

The ram arm 90, as shown in FIG. 1, is an elongated member formed by twopieces 90a and 90b connected together by a pin 900. The rear end of thepiece 90a is connected by a pin92 to the bottom of a bell crank lever81. The mounting of one or both pins 90c and 92 is preferably madeadjustable with respect to the members 90a andcrank lever 81 so that theeffective length of ram arm piece 90a can be selected. This controls thelength of stroke of the ram arm. The upper end of the bell crank lever-81 is pivoted on an adjustable pivot 82, under the head of a screw 83mounted on an extension plate 85 which is connected to the main supportbase 46.

A power driven clutch 86 is also mounted on the extension bracket 85.The clutch has a head 86a with an eccentrically mounted pin 87 whichfits within a slot 81a on the crank arm 81. The clutch input isconnected to the output shaft of a motor 88 mounted on the extensionplate 85. When energized by a suitable electric circuit (not shown),such as a microswitch or any other suitable switch under the control ofthe operator and usually operated by a his or her foot, the clutch 86 iscaused to turn its output head 86a through one complete revolution. Amicroswitch 89, having an actuating arm 89a, is also mounted on theextension plate 85 to engage a projection 86b on the drive head 86a ofthe clutch. After the clutch goes through one revolution, the projection86b engages the lever arm 89a to actuate the switch 89 to break theclutch circuit. This insures that there is only one rotation of theclutch each time that it is energized. The clutch 86 and motor 88 are ofany conventional construction, one preferred type being Model 160 madeby Warner Electric Company of Chicago, Illinois.

For each revolution of the clutch head 8611, the eccentrically mountedpin 87 moves down and then up in the slot 81a of the crank arm 81. Asthe pin 81a moves down, it moves the crank arm and the ram arm 90 to theleft to feed a button. As the clutch rotates to move the eccentric pin87 up and the crank arm 81 to the right, the ram arm 90 is retracted toits rest position.

The stroke of the crank arm 81, and thereby the stroke of the ram arm,is adjustable by moving the pivot 82. This is accomplished by the screw83 which permits the pivot 82 to be located at one of a number ofpositions determined by screw threaded holes (not shown) on theextension plate 85.

The details of the ram arm 90 and its operation to feed buttons is shownin greater detail in FIGS. 7 and 8. Referring to these two figures, theleft piece 90b of the ram arm carries a projecting finger 94 whose leftend has approximately a 90 degree bend in it to permit the finger end toride in the track 42 at the bottom, substantially horizontal, portion ofthe chute.

As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the finger 94 is a separate piece havingupper and lower flanges 95 thereon which permit the finger to bepivotally mounted by pin 96 to the bifurcated end of the ram arm portion90b. The flanges 95 have tips 95a which engage a leaf spring 97 which ismounted on the arm piece 9012 by any suitable fasteners such as thescrews 98. The arm piece 90b rides within a track 99a formed in ahousing 99 which is fastened to the bottom of the chute member 45.

As shown best in FIG. 7, a leaf spring retaining finger 100 is alsoattached to the housing 99 by any suitable fasteners such as the screws101 and this finger has a downwardly extending end 102 which extendsinto the track 42 near the chute output 41.

Another spring member 106 isfastened to the top of the housing 99, by ascrew 107 to limit the outward movement of the finger 100. The end offinger 100 engages the shank of the last button in the chute to preventthe buttons from leaving the chute by the force of gravity. To put itanother way, it is the function of the ram arm 90 to move the nextbutton to be fed out past the finger 100 into the button holder member150.

BUTTON HOLDER The button holder is shown in detail in FIGS. 7 through10. As seen in FIGS. 7, 9 and 10, a top plate 132 is held by suitablefasteners such as screws 134 to the head of a sewing machine (not shown)to move therewith. Top plate 132 has an extending arm 136 which is cutwith a central slot 138 and has a milled slot 139 on each edge thereof.A screw 142 with a wing nut 144 fits within the slot 138 and holdsthereon a rigid rear plate member 146 of the holder 150. The screw 142is not shown in FIG. 7 for the sake of clarity. The rigid plate 146 hasa pair of legs 146a and 146k which extend into the slots 139 to keep theplate aligned.

A-flat leaf spring 152 is mounted along a bent right edge on one sidewall of the back plate 146 by any suitable means such as by welding,soldering rivets, or screws (not shown). The leaf spring 152, as shownbest in FIGS. 7 and 8, is bent over the right side wall of the backplate 146 and extends at an angle to partially cover the front of backplate 146 and to be spaced therefrom in the area in which a button is tobe fed. As shown in FIG. 7, there is space between the leaf spring 152and a front clamp plate 160 with the space being located opposite theoutput end of the chute so that the button may be fed therein betweenthe leaf spring and the clamp plate 160.

The clamp plate 160 is of generally Y-shaped construction with a pair ofupper arms 160a and 160b which are held, such as by screws 164, tobifurcated arms 136a and 136b (FIG. 9) on the projection 136 of the topplate 132. The needle 302 of the sewing machine passes through the spacebetween the arms 136a and 136b and the clamp plate 160. A cross arm 160ajoins the two upper arms of the clamp plate 160 and a depending arm 160dextends downwardly in a generally vertical direction from the right handend of the cross arm 1600. A terminating arm 160e projects to the leftfrom arm 160d.

The downwardly extending arm 160d is formed with a hollow bulge 161,such as by bending of arm 160d, so that the shanks of the buttons may bepassed within the bulge 161 as the ram arm is driven to the left. Also,the bulge 161 is large enough to permit the projecting finger 94 of theram arm to pass therethrough (see FIG. 8b).

The entire front clamp assembly 160 with its various arms are made of asuitable rigid material. There is no need for the clamp 160 to beresilient since all the resiliency that is needed to hold a button isprovided by the rear leaf spring member 150.

The operation of the button holder is relatively simple. The holder 150is moved to align the front clamp plate 160 generally with the frontcover member 45 at the chute output 41 by loosening screw 142 and movingthe rear plate 146.

It should be noted that the arrangement of the angled leaf spring 152simplifies the adjustment of the holder since it is not necessary toprecisely align the rear chute member 44 with the spring 152 for eachdifferent thickness of button being fed. It is only necessary that thespring 152 be brought into a generally opposing relationship with thedischarge end 41 of the chute since for a wide variety of buttons ofsufficient thickness, the leaf spring 152 will be depressed sufficientlyand have sufficient force to hold the button against the front clampplate 160.

OPERATION OF RAM ARM AND BUTTON HOLDER Considering now the operation ofthe ram arm moving a button into sewing position in the button holder150, reference is made to FIGS. 7a, 7b, 7c and 8a and 8b. FIGS. 7a and8a show the ram arm in the rest position awaiting energization of thebutton feeder by the operator to feed a button into the holder. Asshown, the projecting finger 94 is pivoted out from the track 42 withits rear edge cammed against the left side wall of the housing 99. Inthis position, the buttons in the track 42 are held by the projectingfinger which engages and holds the shank of last button in the chute,that is,

the button which is to be fed into the holder by the ram arm.

When the operator energizes the clutch, the crank arm 81 is turned andthe ram arm 90 is moved to the left. As the ram arm 90 begins its moveto the left, the rear end of the ram finger 94 drops off the cam surfaceof housing 99 shown in FIG. 8a so that its projecting bent end portionunder the urging of spring 97 drops into the track 42 and engages theshank ll of the last button 10 in the chute on its right side. The ramarm 11 continues to move to the left pushing the button into the holdera distance which is set by the travel of the ram arm. This travel isdetermined by the adjustments 83 on the crank arm mechanism and is setso that the shank of the button is aligned approximately in the centerof the space between the two legs 136a and 136b of the top plate. Thefinger 94 passes through the bulge 161 in the front clamp plate as shownin FIG. 8b, and deposits the button on the holder at this location, as

shown in FIGS. 7b and 8b. The force of the finger is sufficient todepress the spring 152.

As shown in FIGS. 7b and 8b, only one button is fed at a time by arm 90.The remaining buttons in the chute are held by the spring finger 100 asthe last button in the chute is moved past finger 100 into the holder150.

In the retraction portion of the cycle, that is, when the ram arm 90 ismoved to the right, the projecting portion of finger 94 pivots over theshank of the last button now being held in the chute by the finger 100to clear this button. It is held in this outward position as shown inFIG. 8a by the camming action of the left end of housing 99.

The travel to the right of the 'ram arm 90 is limited during retractionby a spring biased detent pin 114 which is held within the housing 99. Anotch 116 is cut into the arm portion 90b so that as the arm isretracted to the right by crank 81, its movement is limited when the pin114 drops into the notch 116.

It should be understood from the foregoing that the ram action insures apositive feed of the buttons at all times rather than just a gravity offeed. This arrangement reduces the jamming which occurs with purelygravity fed machines. Also, it permits better clamping of the button inthe holder 150 because a stronger spring 152 can be used since thisspring can be easily depressed by the ram arm action whereas it couldnot be merely by a gravity feed operation.

SHOE

The shoe 240 is of conventional construction and comprises an anvil 242fixedly mounted on a shoe plate 244. The shoe plate 244 is stationaryand a conventional mechanism (not shown) is operated so that the head ofthe sewing machine with the button holder attached can be raised andlowered under the control of the operator. The downward travel of thebutton holder 150 with respect to the anvil 242 is limited by a stopplate 250 which is adjustably mounted by means of a screw 250 riding ina slot 254 attached to the back plate 146 of the button holder when thestop plate 250 engages the shoe plate 244.

The raising and lowering of the button holder 150 is shown in FIG. 7. Asshown in sequence in FIG. 7a, when the machine is at rest awaiting thestart of the next cycle, the button holder 150 is at its uppermostposition with respect to anvil 242. After the button is advanced intothe button holder, shown in FIG. 7b, the button holder 150 is still inits uppermost position until it is lowered by the operator, as shown inFIG. 7c, when he operates a control on the sewing machine toautomatically lower the head of the machine to bring the button holderadjacent the anvil with the button in sewing position. Here the needle302 of the sewing machine can be moved downwardly to accomplish thesewing operation on the cloth 260 held on top of the shoe. As seen inFIG. 70 the sewing needle 302 passes outside the front clamp plate 160and through the hole in the button shank to be sewn onto the cloth.

After the sewing operation is completed, the operator operates a controlon the sewing machine to move the head up. This brings the button holderback up to the position shown in FIG. 7a to receive another but- I011.

GENERAL OPERATION OF THE MACHINE The general operation of the buttonfeeding machine of the present invention may be described as follows.Buttons are loaded into the hopper at 20 in any desired quantity. Ifdesired, a screen may be utilized to prevent the buttons from beingspilled out of the hopper. The spacing between the front and rearmembers of the chute is set by the two step operation, control knob 62for the flat lower portion and screw 68 for the curved upper portion, toaccommodate the particular size button being fed.

The hopper motor 30 is turned on and the spring arms 32 rotate to pushthe buttons into the outlet 23 of the hopper where they are aligned bythe shoulder and notch 48, 49 (FIG. 4) on the front chute member 45 togo shank outwardly in the slot 42 of the chute. The buttons then falldownwardly in the chute 40 by gravity, the last button being held at theoutput end of the chute by'the spring finger 100.

To initiate a cycle of operation of the machine, that is, to feed abutton from the chute into the holder, the operator depresses a switch(not shown) to energize the motor driven clutch 86. This moves the crankarm 81 pushing the ram arm 90 first to the left and then to the right.When moving to the left the projecting finger 94 of the ram arm'engagesthe shank of the last button in the track 42 of the chute, pushes thisbutton under and away from the spring holding finger 100 and into thebutton holder 150. The button is'held between the front clamp plate 160,which is substantially rigid, and the rear leaf spring 152, this springproviding the necessary resiliency to hold the button firmly. The ramarm retracts and as it moves to the right, the pivotally mounted finger94 moves over the shank of the last button now being held in the trackby the spring finger 100 and is cammed outwardly against the housing 99.The shoe 240 is then lowered and the sewing operation is completed onthe button which is in the button holder.

The shoe is then raised and the machine is ready for the next buttonfeeding cycle which is commenced by the operator energizing the clutch86.

The button feeding machine of the present invention has severaladvantages. First of all, the hopper is of relatively simpleconstruction and the buttons therein are aligned in the chute track in anovel manner. In addition, even though a two section chute is used, theadjustment of the front and rear chute members is quite easy. Further,the buttons are positively fed from the chute for a predetermineddistance in accordance with the stroke of the ram arm to positivelylocate the buttons in the holder. It has also been found that themachine of the subject invention operates quite rapidly and at a reducednoise level.

While a preferred embodiment of the invention has been described above,it will be understood that this is illustrative only, and the inventionis limited solely by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a button feeding machine for buttons of the type 7 having a bodyportion with front and rear faces and a shank extending rearwardly fromthe rear face, said machine being of the type including a hopper havinga discharge aperture, a chute having an inlet end positioned adjacentthe hopper discharge aperture for receiving buttons from said hopper,means for orienting said buttons in said chute with the shanks thereoffacing outwardly, said chute also having an outlet end, support means, abutton holder mounted on said support means adjacent the outlet end ofsaid chute and separate therefrom, the improvement comprising saidbutton holder comprising spring means having a flat face mounted on saidsupport means at an angle whose vertex is adjacent the outlet end ofsaid chute to engage the front face of a button ejected from said chute,clamp means of substantially rigid material mounted on said supportmeans opposite said spring means for engaging the rear face of thebutton, said clamp means formed with upper and lower pieces with a slottherebetween to engage the rear face of the button ejected into saidholder and a connecting piece bridging said slot, said connecting piecehaving a portion projectingoutwardly from the slot through which theshank of the button can be moved into the button holder, and means forfeeding buttons from said chute into said button holder between the leafspring and the clamp, said feeding means travelling beneath saidconnecting piece of said clamp means.

2. A machine as in claim 1 wherein said spring means comprises a leafspring.

3. A machine as in claim 1 wherein said support means on which saidspring means is mounted includes means for adjusting the position ofsaid spring means to select the location on said spring means where abutton ejected from the chute will engage said spring means.

4. A machine as in claim 1 wherein said clamp means comprises a singlepiece of material having first and second legs which are attached tosaid support means, a third leg connected to said first and second legsand forming said upper piece, said connecting piece connected to saidthird leg and a fourth piece which is generally parallelto said thirdpiece.

t i v &

1. In a button feeding machine for buttons of the type having a bodyportion with front and rear faces and a shank extending rearwardly fromthe rear face, said machine being of the type including a hopper havinga discharge aperture, a chute having an inlet end positioned adjacentthe hopper discharge aperture for receiving buttons from said hopper,means for orienting said buttons in said chute with the shanks thereoffacing outwardly, said chute also having an outlet end, support means, abutton holder mounted on said support means adjacent the outlet end ofsaid chute and separate therefrom, the improvement comprising saidbutton holder comprising spring means having a flat face mounted on saidsupport means at an angle whose vertex is adjacent the outlet end ofsaid chute to engage the front face of a button ejected from said chute,clamp means of substantially rigid material mounted on said supportmeans opposite said spring means for engaging the rear face of thebutton, said clamp means formed with upper and lower pieces with a slottherebetween to engage the rear face of the button ejected into saidholder and a connecting piece bridging said slot, said connecting piecehaving a portion projecting outwardly from the slot through which theshank of the button can be moved into the button holder, and means forfeeding buttons from said chute into said button holder between the leafspring and the clamp, said feeding means travelling beneath saidconnecting piece of said clamp means.
 2. A machine as in claim 1 whereinsaid spring means comprises a leaf spring.
 3. A machine as in claim 1wherein said support means on which said spring means is mountedincludes means for adjusting the position of said spring means to selectthe location on said spring means where a button ejected from the chutewill engage said spring means.
 4. A machine as in claim 1 wherein saidclamp means comprises a single piece of material having first and secondlegs which are attached to said support means, a third leg connected tosaid first and second legs and forming said upper piece, said connectingpiece connected to said third leg and a fourth piece which is generallyparallel to said third piece.